


patience is a virtue

by chatsdelune (greymooses)



Series: writers and actors and pr oh my [1]
Category: SEVENTEEN (Band)
Genre: 5+1 Things, Alternate Universe - Neighbors, Fluff, Friends to Lovers, Getting Together, M/M, Mutual Pining, POV Alternating, Slow Burn, but junhui isn't in this, cheol has a cat, idk how the hell to tag this, just. so much gross domestic fluff., or at least the illusion of it, seoksoon and junshua if you squint, side gyuhoon as the established and patient friends, spoiler she loves jeonghan more, suit-wearer!han, this is so long and barely earns the t rating and i'm sorry for that, writer!cheol
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-06-30
Updated: 2020-06-30
Packaged: 2021-03-03 21:35:15
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 3
Words: 12,432
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/24982441
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/greymooses/pseuds/chatsdelune
Summary: seungcheol's deadline for new chapters is three weeks away. he always forgets how to be a human at this point in the publishing process, but his neighbor/morning coffee buddy has no shame about bullying him into remembering.or: 5 times jeonghan took care of seungcheol before they were dating, and 1 time seungcheol took care of jeonghan after.ish.
Relationships: Choi Seungcheol | S.Coups/Yoon Jeonghan
Series: writers and actors and pr oh my [1]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1834114
Comments: 20
Kudos: 191





	1. prologue: (six weeks ago)

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> god this is a long, unnecessary mess and i'm so sorry. hi, i fell in the svt hole a few months ago and this came out. the random prompt was something about "person a doesn't take care of themselves when they have a deadline approaching so their neighbor, person b, does it for them" and my brain twisted it and it became this _thing_ and i didn't mean for it to be a 5+1 sort of theme but here we are. it's much more linear and connected than most, but more jumpy than a slice of life slow burn, so... 5+1 it became? with a prologue and epilogue? i don't even know anymore smh.
> 
> haven't really been happy with anything i've written for 8 months so comments are super appreciated if you find anything enjoyable in here, but i honestly just needed to *finish* something. thanks for clicking, have fun in gross domestic fluff land. please excuse any random mistakes i got tired of rereading this but i'll find them eventually.

**(six weeks ago)**

the thud of the door hitting him reverberates through his skull as he steps back, clutching his phone in one hand and his forehead in the other.

a voice assaults seungcheol next: "oh, fuck, are you okay?"

it’s too early for this.

a man — the man who opened the door on him — hurriedly places a stack of boxes on the ground. he’s dressed in track pants and a vastly oversized t-shirt, and he crowds himself into seungcheol’s space as seungcheol removes his hand from his face to check for blood. there isn’t any.

the man looks relieved as he says, "i’m so sorry. i couldn’t see very well."

seungcheol bites back every curse word trying to trip off his tongue, because Aggressive Door Opener looks apologetic enough, and grits out, "it’s fine," instead. "i’ll be back in ten minutes. please don’t hit me again on the way back in."

he expects the man to cower, at least a little bit, or to look some sort of chastised, but he doesn’t.

seungcheol thinks about the exhausted eye roll all the way to the coffee shop.

**——————————**

"you know," a voice drawls when seungcheol enters the building with his coffee, "you didn’t have to be an asshole. i apologized because it was the nice thing to do, but it was _your_ fault you weren’t looking where you were going."

the man is squatting against the wall next to the mailboxes, staring at his fingernails with an air of indifference, apparently having been waiting for seungcheol to return just so he can attempt to tell him off, but unwilling to stand to do it.

"i know," seungcheol sighs, leaning back against the opposite wall. "you’re new here and i should’ve been a better neighbor. i’m a monster before i’ve had coffee."

that seems to surprise him, and he looks up at seungcheol from under a messy fringe that lands just below his eyebrows. he doesn’t say anything, but his eyes soften, just a little, before he blows an exhale from between pursed lips and stands. he walks past seungcheol to the stairs and begins taking them two at a time.

"i’m seungcheol," he blurts out with urgency.

the man continues climbing, raising a hand behind himself to wave briefly — mumbling, "see you around, seungcheol" — before rounding the corner and disappearing from view.


	2. present: 5+1

**(one)**

a coworker once told jeonghan of an english idiom: in this world nothing can be certain, except death and taxes.

he thinks about it from time to time, like this morning as he checks his watch, impatiently tapping his toes on the step outside his building, glancing up at the windows above his head.

since moving in a little over a month ago, jeonghan has made an addendum: in this world nothing can be certain, except death, taxes, and choi seungcheol’s caffeine addiction.

his neighbor is a writer. he works from home, but he’s exceptionally good about keeping a structured schedule, and maybe jeonghan has started leaving for work a little earlier than he needs to so that he can "accidentally" bump into him and walk with him as far as his favorite coffee shop two blocks away.

the coworker with the idiom asked him why he started showing up earlier and he smoothly lied about his bus schedule changing, hoping that jisoo wouldn’t care enough to check whether he was telling the truth. in his defense, it _did_ change, granted only by five minutes, but he wasn’t about to tell the biggest snake in the office — other than himself — that he started coming in earlier because of a guy. even if the guy has a very attractive face and soft, sparkly eyes and thighs that are unnecessarily large for someone who spends most of his time on his computer.

anyway, he should be downstairs by now, but he’s not. jeonghan _should_ just leave, because under any other circumstances that’s exactly what he would do, but he can’t quite get his feet to move.

jeonghan lowkey sees most people as puzzles, or maybe like a claw machine — there’s one missing piece he has to find, or if he pokes at just the right angle he can win a metaphorical stuffed rabbit. this serves him well in his career, hasn’t done much for his personal life, and is an urge that is inexplicably dulled when around seungcheol in the morning. something about him unabashedly leaving the house still in his pajamas with a baseball cap thrown over messy hair, next to an immaculately-dressed jeonghan no less, takes all the enjoyment out of poking fun at him.

it’s not that jeonghan has a crush or anything, because that would be ridiculous. he finds listening to seungcheol’s voice is a nice way to start his day, that’s all.

he palms the keys in his pocket, running his finger along the ridges of the one for seungcheol’s apartment — given to him in case of emergency, complete with an obnoxious cap shaped like a cat's head that he hasn't been able to bring himself to remove. his watch tells him he’s already missed his bus, and he decides to hell with it. a woman is approaching the door so he waits rather than fighting with his key. he flashes her a wordless smile as she exits, slips through the building door behind her, and takes the stairs two at a time to the third floor.

he stops one apartment short of his own, pulls out his keys, unlocks the door, and pushes it open.

it’s dark inside, curtains drawn shut to block out the sun. the bulbs in the hallway illuminate enough of the room for jeonghan to understand that seungcheol _was_ , presumably, asleep at his kitchen table. a notebook is open next to his laptop. at least three coffee cups are scattered around him, one dangerously close to toppling to the floor. there are convenience store food wrappers in a pile behind his computer. jeonghan thinks he _was_ asleep — past tense — because seungcheol _is_ awake, albeit barely, thanks to jeonghan opening his door. his hair is obviously unwashed and sticking up in too many directions to count. he’s squinting at jeonghan like the hallway light is too bright, brandishing one of the food wrappers in his fist.

in retrospect, jeonghan realizes he maybe should have knocked, but it’s too late to do anything about it now.

"you’d have better luck defending yourself with one of the coffee cups," he comments from the doorway.

seungcheol closes his eyes, runs his free hand through his hair, and takes a deep breath before opening his eyes a little wider than before.

"what are you doing here? what time is it?" he slurs sleepily.

"past the time you usually get coffee. i thought maybe you were dead."

"so you just let yourself in?" he asks, disbelief evident in his tone, but he lowers his arm to rest on the table and lets go of the wrapper.

seungcheol stares at him, but doesn’t say anything like "get the fuck out of my apartment" or "i’m calling the police," so jeonghan figures it’s safe to stay. he steps inside to close the door, plunging them into darkness again. there’s a squeak from the vague direction of the table and he rolls his eyes, reaching behind himself to flip on the light. the apartment and the man are both in worse shape than he realized — clothes overflowing the hamper near the washing machine, cupboards left open in the kitchen, an open bag of cat food on the counter, dishes stacked in two distinct piles near the sink, seungcheol unshaven and wearing a t-shirt that looks like it’s been slept in more than once.

"this might be worse than dead," jeonghan says. he fishes his phone out of his pocket and opens his email to let the office know he won’t be in today. he doesn’t look up as he asks, "when’s the last time you showered?"

"thursday? i think."

"let me rephrase: did you shower this weekend?"

seungcheol groans and jeonghan glances up to see him rest his head on his palm and close his eyes before mumbling, "my editor needs my next chapters in a few weeks."

jeonghan hums to himself, nods in acknowledgement as he hits the "send" button. his phone makes a _whoosh_ noise and he locks and pockets it. he almost feels guilty for waking seungcheol, but honestly he's a grown man and should be taking better care of himself. throwing his whole schedule into disarray has probably done more harm than good.

"that’s a no, then. and judging by the state of the table there, you didn’t eat real food this weekend, either."

"did you ever explain why you're here?"

"yes. i thought you were dead. as your neighbor, i was concerned."

"as my neighbor," seungcheol repeats.

"yeah, would hate to have a dead body stinking up my place," jeonghan says flippantly. "speaking of things that smell," he adds, scrunching his nose, "please go shower."

seungcheol grabs the neck of his t-shirt, pulls it away from his chest, and sticks his face inside for a second.

jeonghan wonders — not for the first time — why he likes men.

when seungcheol pulls his face out of his shirt, looking adequately disgusted, he sighs and slips out of his chair. he looks run down, and it occurs to jeonghan he has no idea how long he had been asleep. he’s about to ask, but seungcheol speaks up first.

"are you…" he starts, then changes his question. "don’t you have work?"

"told the office i’m not coming in today. seems like you need a babysitter."

"i really don’t," seungcheol argues, but it’s just whiny enough that jeonghan isn’t buying it.

"you were asleep at your kitchen table," he says, shaking his head, unwilling to give in. god only knows why he’s picking _this_ battle to fight, but he’s going to win. "go shower," he commands, pointing in the direction of where he assumes the bathroom is.

seungcheol, honest to god, _pouts_ like a toddler who has just been told they have to eat something they dislike. it takes everything jeonghan has to not laugh at him, but eventually he begins to shuffle like a zombie in the direction jeonghan pointed.

jeonghan stands and waits for him to get out of the room, glancing around to orchestrate a plan of attack on the mess in the kitchen. he hears the sound of a door latching, running water a few seconds later, and smirks.

**¤¤¤**

in the bathroom, seungcheol starts the shower but doesn’t get in. he leans against the sink, refusing to look at himself in the mirror, and calls jihoon instead. it takes a few rings, but eventually he picks up.

"hyung?" he mumbles in greeting.

"sorry, i know it’s early, but jeonghan is in my apartment."

there’s a long pause and some muffled noises — shuffling and hushed voices — like jihoon is getting out of bed. maybe ten seconds pass before jihoon yawns and asks, "did you finally tell him?"

"did i wake mingyu, too?" seungcheol worries.

"he’s probably already asleep again," jihoon replies, and seungcheol can imagine the hand wave that accompanies it. "did you finally tell him?"

"fuck no. he let himself in claiming to be concerned i was dead because i didn’t go get coffee at the usual time this morning. woke me up and demanded i shower."

"oh, that’s what that noise is."

"yeah, sorry."

"it’s okay. i assume you called because you’re freaking out, but that’s dumb, and you should just ask him out. like i’ve been telling you for the past three weeks."

jihoon has known him for almost a decade. the simultaneous upside and downside of having a friend like him is being unable to hide anything, because they see right through you. seungcheol thinks his primary emotions are exhaustion and annoyance, but underneath it all, jihoon might be right.

seungcheol sighs. "but he’s never—"

"i’m too tired for you to finish that sentence. he missed you enough to break into your apartment—"

"i gave him a key for emergencies and feeding boo when i’m out of town."

"uh huh. like i was saying, he missed you, because you two have been having dumb little dates on your way to get coffee every morning. ask him out."

"but what if he says no?"

"i can't believe you dragged me away from sleep for this. take your shower. is he still there?"

"i think he might be cleaning."

"marry him."

"is that your pl—"

jihoon cuts him off with a scoff and says, "goodbye, hyung."

"thanks for your help."

his friend makes a small noise of acknowledgement, then hangs up.

seungcheol turns to face himself in the mirror, setting his phone on the sink. he forgets how to be a human when he’s nearing submission time, and if he’s honest, jeonghan was right — this might be worse than dead. the bags under his eyes are massive, his facial hair is absolutely out of control, and the hair on his head reminds him of a troll doll that fell in a vat of oil. honestly, he just wants more than the two hours of sleep he’s had, but showering means he can sleep in his bed later without feeling guilty and that seems like a win.

he sighs, strips his clothes off, and steps under the water.

he tries to wash his hair first, but lifting his arms is unpleasant enough to temporarily redefine his shower routine. part of him can’t believe jeonghan didn’t turn right around and walk out; the other part isn’t surprised because they’ve been a mess since the first time they met.

days worth of filth are eventually washed away, and seungcheol steps out of the shower feeling more awake than he did when he stepped in. he wraps a towel around his hips and opens the bathroom door at the same time he remembers there’s someone else in his house. a rush of adrenaline hits him and he quickly considers the merits of locking himself in his bathroom for the rest of the day versus temporarily putting his dirty clothes back on versus walking out in just a towel.

he’s leaning towards the first option when jeonghan calls out from the kitchen, "on the floor next to the door." his voice is melodic and teasing and seungcheol is pretty sure this is just one more thing he’s never going to live down, but he grabs the clothes and retreats into the bathroom again.

the boxer briefs are his — he knows they were the last pair hanging on his drying rack — but the gray sweatpants and black t-shirt are not. the shirt is a little tighter around his arms than he’d like, and the sweatpants a bit tighter in the thighs, but he acknowledges that his own clothes are perhaps more well-worn than they should be. the fabric gives off an air of something vaguely powdery or floral, and the scent tickles seungcheol’s memory in a way that makes him crave coffee.

when he's dressed, he collects his dirty clothes and towel before padding into the kitchen. jeonghan is there, at a much cleaner table, with boo in his lap.

"your dad smells much better, doesn't he, boo?" he coos pointedly at seungcheol's cat. out of the corner of his eye, seungcheol can see boo's black head tipped into jeonghan's hand, relishing the attention she's being given.

choi boo is a traitor, he thinks, and they'll be discussing it after jeonghan leaves.

seungcheol drops the clothes and towel in the pile next to his washing machine, then thinks better of it and bends down to retrieve them, moving them into his empty washing machine instead. jeonghan continues making noises at the cat, and it's a good reminder that if he's here to help seungcheol get his apartment in order — even though he never asked — he might as well make an effort. he haphazardly stuffs a few more handfuls of clothes into the machine, gets it running, and slips back into his chair at the table.

jeonghan is focusing all of his attention on boo, or trying to. seungcheol thinks he sees him glance at his arms, and almost thinks his eyes widen, but he’s tired and it’s only a brief flash and he could’ve imagined it, so he tries to forget about it. it’s not exactly awkward, but they’re not particularly close, and now that jeonghan is sitting in his apartment like he belongs there, seungcheol feels underdressed and weirdly exposed.

"she likes you," he observes, nodding his head in boo's direction.

"most living things do. you can keep the clothes, by the way."

"i can wash them and give them back eventually," seungcheol argues weakly. "i'm a functioning human when i'm not on a deadline."

"wash them and hide them in a drawer for the next time you're on a deadline and forget to do laundry instead."

"mean, but fair. thank you."

seungcheol watches jeonghan coddle the traitorous cat for a little longer. he obviously slipped home when seungcheol was in the shower, but in addition to bringing him clean clothes, he's changed out of his suit, into track pants and a t-shirt. his hair is still styled off his forehead. the dichotomy makes seungcheol's head spin, bringing back some of the sleepiness from before his shower. he also cleared the trash and dishes off the table, but left the laptop and notes untouched — something seungcheol is grateful for.

maybe it’s twenty seconds later, maybe it’s two minutes, seungcheol isn’t really sure, but jeonghan sighs, lowers his head, whispers conspiratorially to boo, then places her on the ground.

she meows her dissent while jeonghan tries to wipe cat hair off his lap.

"i know, boo, but i need to help your dad clean this mess," he answers, voice much softer than it’s ever been with seungcheol.

he can’t believe he’s jealous of his cat.

"you really don’t," seungcheol mumbles, crossing his arms in front of his chest.

"we’ve been over this already. when did you fall asleep at the table?"

"i don’t know, a couple of hours before you broke in and nearly scared me to death."

"no ‘thank you for being so concerned about my health, jeonghan. i’m so lucky to have such a handsome, caring neighbor’, then?"

seungcheol stares, reactionless.

"wash a few dishes, they’re disgusting," jeonghan tells him, evidently moving on. he reaches for seungcheol’s phone on the table as he continues, "clean boo’s litter box — she told me it’s also disgusting — and hang up your laundry when it’s done." he holds the phone up to let seungcheol unlock it, which he does for some unknown reason, not having any clue what jeonghan is up to. he taps the screen a few times, then locks the phone and hands it back before standing. "then go take a nap. in _bed_. i only set alarms, don’t worry, your selfie collection is safe."

"but i have to—"

"no, you don’t," jeonghan stops him with a shake of his head. "you wouldn’t be writing anyway, you’d be asleep. you have to do the normal human things i just told you to do," jeonghan argues, but there’s no bite to any of it. he sounds amused, but also serious, like if seungcheol doesn’t do the few things he laid out he might somehow manage to ground him even though he’s an adult and hasn’t been grounded since he was fourteen.

"are you enjoying treating me like a child?" seungcheol asks — petulantly, like a child.

"not particularly," he says, shrugging, before he stands. "i have some work to do, but i’ll come back later with food."

seungcheol’s brain is exhausted. he tries to think about what’s happening, and the words that have come out of his mouth, but everything is foggy. he lets his eyes drift up jeonghan’s body to his head, which is tipped to the side, mouth drawn into a line like he’s trying to avoid laughing.

"jjajangmyeon," seungcheol says, as if they’re negotiating a contract, which he supposes they kind of are.

the corner of jeonghan’s mouth twitches, but he doesn’t break, just turns to leave. "a few dishes, hang your laundry, clean boo’s box," he repeats on his way to the door. "later, cheol-ah."

**¤¤¤**

——————————  
 **to: deeekay**  
seokie help  
you know how i have that neighbor

 **from: deeekay**  
the one with the hot arms  
the one with the massive thighs  
the one with the hair you want to pull  
the tree you want to climb  
or some other neighbor?

 **to: deeekay**  
none of that is true  
how’s soonyoung btw

 **from: deeekay**  
ur mean 😞

 **to: deeekay**  
i’m hearing that a lot today

 **from: deeekay**  
so what about the neighbor?

 **to: deeekay**  
don’t want to tell you anymore.

 **from: deeekay**  
😭

 **to: deeekay**  
😘  
——————————

jeonghan locks his phone and drops it on his coffee table before letting himself sink fully into his couch cushions.

he likes to think he’s usually an intelligent guy. he's not sure why he thought seeing seungcheol in his clothes wouldn't be a problem. truthfully, he may have only been thinking of the alternatives — smelling seungcheol in dirty clothes, or seeing him in nothing — which were much worse.

he didn't mean to leave. he planned to stay and help get the apartment in order, maybe hang out with boo some more, but then seungcheol walked out of the bathroom and jeonghan's plans went out the window.

and okay, maybe it's possible jeonghan has a crush.

he also has some work he can do, he wasn't exactly lying about that. he and jisoo handle enough high profile clients that _something_ always happens at the beginning of the week after the gossip hounds have followed their targets all weekend, and jeonghan feels a little guilty leaving him alone at the office without much warning.

seungcheol should be going to nap soon anyway. this is clearly a terrible time to consider asking him out, what with the stress of his chapters being due soon. or kissing the pout off his face without warning. maybe in the next few hours, jeonghan can figure out how to deal with seeing him again without his chest making him feel like he's dying.

**——————————**

jeonghan doesn't figure it out as much as accept that he’s going to be extremely sexually frustrated for the immediate future. sometimes, that’s all anyone can do.

he finds a restaurant with excellent jjajangmyeon reviews not far from the building and places an order to be delivered in the afternoon. it's enough food for a small army, ensuring seungcheol will have leftovers for a couple of days.

he also has a marathon video call with jisoo — dealing with a few fires, gossiping about the new actor client jisoo thinks he's in love with, and dodging not one but five questions about why he stayed home last minute because he doesn't have the energy to lie.

he signs off twenty minutes before three, packs his things back into his bag for tomorrow, and heads next door.

he knocks this time. seungcheol opens the door a few seconds later, cheeks puffy and hair a mess. jeonghan stomps down the urge to run a hand through it, ducking under seungcheol's arm and pushing his way into the apartment instead. he ignores the sigh behind him, hears the door click shut as he peers into the laundry room and checks the sink in the kitchen.

"i did everything. where's my jjajangmyeon?" seungcheol asks, practically a grunt, hardly human and entirely adorable.

jeonghan sits at the table, in the same chair as this morning, and stares at his fingernails as he says, "on the way, you big baby."

seungcheol makes a _hmph_ noise in acknowledgment from the kitchen behind jeonghan. he hears the fridge open and close, a twist of a bottle cap, and waits for seungcheol to process. "do you want to stay and eat with me?" he finally says. "my head is trying to work out some plot points, so i'm awful company, but—"

the buzzer interrupts him, and jeonghan quickly stands and announces, "that's food. be right back." he’s almost closed the door behind him when he makes a split second decision, poking his head back in to smile at seungcheol and say, "yeah, i’ll stay.”

**(two)**

jisoo walks into jeonghan's office — without knocking — at noon. he doesn't bother looking away from the press release he's proofreading.

"bar?" jisoo asks.

"sure," he agrees. he knows the answer to his own question before he even asks it. "meeting with your actor go okay?"

jisoo groans. jeonghan's mood instantly improves.

"you're not sick. your family isn't around here. why’d you stay home the other day?" jisoo asks.

again.

his persistence is admirable, honestly.

"i set my kitchen on fire," jeonghan answers easily.

"you don't cook."

"especially not now that my kitchen burned down," jeonghan deadpans, hitting send on his email okaying the press release. "ready?"

jisoo rolls his eyes, but follows him out of his office and through the halls to the elevator.

the bar in question is less than a block away from their office. it's a miserable hole in the wall that's usually pretty empty, but they have a decent lunch menu and jisoo's favorite wine. jeonghan is half convinced they've stayed in business solely because of the frequency of their visits.

neither of them have ever said public relations was stress-free.

they take their seats at the bar in silence and order before jisoo starts obnoxiously tapping his fingers on the wood.

wen junhui isn't quite famous, but he's well known in china and trying to get a foot in the door of the korean industry. jisoo has been handling him for about a week, and as far as jeonghan can tell, every day has been a struggle for his libido.

it would be funnier if he didn't relate.

he briefly wonders if seungcheol is awake yet, if he got enough sleep, if he’s been productive for the past two days, if he's still wearing jeonghan's clothes.

"he asked me if i've ever considered playing the flute," jisoo says, apropos of nothing.

jeonghan snorts. "weren't you going over name suggestions? how did that even come up?"

"i wish i knew, but my stomach honest to god did somersaults. i feel like i'm in high school again."

"have you considered calling him in for a meeting and being your dazzling self until his clothes fall off?"

"i hate you."

jeonghan lays a hand on jisoo's shoulder as he takes another healthy sip of his wine, waits for him to swallow before saying, "if you're worried about the conflict with work, you know i would be happy to take him on."

"why'd you stay home?"

non sequiturs from jisoo are a sign to stop pushing, so jeonghan does. he shouldn't tell the truth, but he figures maybe jisoo could use the distraction. "my neighbor needed a babysitter."

… close enough.

jisoo squints at him. "better than the kitchen excuse, so i'll let you have it."

their food comes before jeonghan can be offended jisoo doesn't believe him, and they fall into a discussion about other new clients instead.

his mind drifts, again, to seungcheol and if he's eaten or is stressed out or has thought about jeonghan even once.

**¤¤¤**

seungcheol hits a wall around four in the afternoon. everything was going fine for a few hours, and then his brain just… stopped mid-sentence. he spends some unquantifiable period of time staring blankly at his screen, eventually deciding to take a break.

it has nothing to do with the hope forming in his gut that jeonghan will stop by.

he takes a few minutes to update his editor on his progress, because she has sent him half a dozen emails since noon, the urgency increasing with each one, and he doesn’t doubt that she would show up at his apartment if she thought he fell off the face of the earth — not a reality he wants to deal with.

he plays with boo for a few minutes, decides to do another load of laundry and wash a couple more dishes, and tries not to obsessively check the time.

he’s finishing a small plate of reheated leftovers a while later when there’s a knock at the door. the stupid smile he feels appear on his face is embarrassing, and something he should think about, probably.

jeonghan is standing in the hall when he opens the door, a few shopping bags at his feet.

"they’re heavy," he says, pointing at the bags as seungcheol steps to the side and lets him inside.

"what am i supposed to do with your groceries?" seungcheol picks up the bags anyway.

"you think i cook?" jeonghan asks, amused. "they’re for you. easy things like ramen and some healthier prepackaged stuff than the shit you had all over your table yesterday."

"oh."

jeonghan fidgets with his thumbs at his sides, like he’s suddenly lost confidence in his decision to exhibit any sort of concern for seungcheol’s wellbeing. it’s charming, in a way.

"if there’s anything you don’t like, i’ll take it. i just noticed your fridge was pretty empty and figured you haven’t had time to—"

"i haven't. i'm sure it’s fine. thank you," seungcheol interrupts, trying to pour as much sincerity into his words as he can without sounding like he’s drowning in his feelings. his friends care about him, but they tend to keep their distance when he’s in crunch mode with a book; his emotions aren’t sure what to do with someone caring like _this_.

as he's putting the groceries away, jeonghan wanders to the couch where boo is sleeping. he pets her head, drawing a surprised chirp from the cat and a quiet laugh from his own chest.

seungcheol is fucked.

"how's the writing?" he asks, still focused on the cat.

"hit a wall a little while ago, but it happens."

jeonghan meets his eyes across the room and places a hand over his chest. "so you decided to do more cleaning and eat? i feel like a proud parent."

"having leftovers helps."

"i'm glad."

seungcheol empties the last bag, folding it and adding it to the pile. "are you hungry?" he asks, leaning back against the counter. "you can have something."

jeonghan shakes his head. his hair products have started to fail at this point in the day, and a piece of fringe breaks free with the movement and sticks to his forehead. he raises a hand to push it away, says, "came by to make sure you and boo were still alive."

"because the smell would be terrible," seungcheol says, echoing jeonghan's reasoning from earlier in the week.

he's beginning to think jihoon was right.

"exactly." jeonghan gives boo another few seconds of attention, then turns away from her, taking a handful of steps back towards seungcheol, approaching the counter. "i should let you work."

seungcheol nods, slightly disappointed, and reaches for the grocery bags to hand over. jeonghan reaches out at the same time and seungcheol sees it happen in slow motion, powerless to stop it: their fingers brush.

he wouldn't choose cliché writer words like "fireworks" and "electric" to describe it, but there's a definite buzzing under his skin, a ghost of human contact he doesn't get with his other friends.

he opens his mouth to say something, anything, but jeonghan coughs once, grabs his work bag in his free hand, and disappears.

**(three)**

seungcheol’s alarm goes off entirely too early. another round of writer’s block kept him up late. sentences felt clunky and disgusting as they were put on the page, and he deleted ten times as much as he kept. his editor would have his head if she knew. he can hear her voice anyway, from one of the previous lectures he’s had to sit through: "you should never delete anything in the spur of the moment!"

regardless, he hasn’t slept enough, and he’d love to abolish sunlight.

after kicking and rolling around for a minute, he drags himself out of bed and into the shower, mostly out of fear of what jeonghan would say if he found out seungcheol skipped it. he's not sure when jeonghan's opinion became a factor in his daily activities, but for now it is what it is — shoved into a box and stashed in a secure corner of his mind.

writing continues to not go well into the afternoon. he’s made coffee, he’s eaten, he’s put some laundry away, he’s danced around his living room, he’s played with boo, he’s tried _everything_.

he needs to get out of the damn apartment.

he’s pulling on a hoodie when there’s a knock at the door. jeonghan’s knock, he realizes, because apparently after hearing it every day for the last week, that’s something he recognizes now.

seungcheol pulls the door open and grabs his shoes in one move, backing away to give jeonghan room to step inside if he wants to. it feels like they’re beyond greetings at this point, so he doesn’t bother. he looks up as he pulls his first shoe on and jeonghan smirks at him, fingers folded together on his hip. he’s in casual clothes, hair down and messy over his forehead — weird for two in the afternoon on a weekday. seungcheol says as much as he pulls his second shoe on.

"nothing to do in the office today except listen to my coworker complain about the seemingly clueless actor he has a crush on, so i came home. i have a couple of meetings later with clients who are in europe this month, but i thought i’d see if you were—"

"alive. boo and i are fed, watered, and clean, yes."

jeonghan squints at him. "is she as tense as you are?"

"i’m not tense," seungcheol deadpans.

"are you kidding?" he replies, obviously amused. "you look like you’re going to start vibrating."

seungcheol feels like he’s going to start vibrating.

"i’ve been in this apartment for over a week and i’m blocked. i was going to go for a run and get some coffee," he explains, and he swears jeonghan’s eyes light up. _pretty_ , he thinks, then shoves it in the mind box. in retaliation, his brain decides to ask, "you want to come?"

jeonghan looks at him — really looks. scanning his face for some emotion, maybe, but seungcheol has no idea what or why or if he finds it. it might be intimidating if jeonghan had come from the office, but he looks so much softer with messy hair that seungcheol mostly wants to squish his cheeks.

"can you avoid shattering into a thousand pieces for two minutes so i can get my running shoes?" he finally asks, carefully, as if the question might prompt it to happen.

seungcheol nods once. he grabs his keys and twists the lock on the doorknob — all habitual things for leaving the apartment. he isn’t thinking when he puts a hand over jeonghan’s on his hip, guiding him into the hallway, or when jeonghan doesn’t do anything to shake it off.

**¤¤¤**

they go to a path at a nearby park. they don’t go far, maybe a kilometre, before seungcheol slows down. he moves to the edge of the grass, hangs his head with his hands on his knees, and pants. jeonghan realizes he’s lost his running partner a few seconds later and turns around to walk back to his side.

when seungcheol can breathe enough to speak, he raises his head and glares suspiciously at jeonghan before asking, "why do you look like you could do this for another ten kilometres without breaking a sweat?" 

jeonghan shrugs, then replies nonchalantly, "i was on the track team in university."

seungcheol presses his lips together and shakes his head. "i can’t believe you."

"you never asked if i was a runner, cheol-ah. that’s on you."

"whatever. coffee? i know a place a few minutes away."

"lead the way, turtle."

"turtle?"

"yeah, because you’re slow," jeonghan taunts.

seungcheol reaches an arm out to try to shove him, but jeonghan sees it coming and steps out of the way with a laugh. it would be the easiest thing in the world to slip his hand into seungcheol’s when he gets back to his side. he wants to, and he thinks maybe seungcheol would let him, but they’re in public and the timing is still terrible, so he clamps his fingers around his own waist instead.

the cafe comes into view quickly enough. jeonghan mindlessly hums a melody that's been stuck in his head since jisoo made him listen to some english song that morning. seungcheol seems unbothered, maybe off in his own head thinking about his book.

the place isn't busy. they have typical coffee shop drinks and an assortment of lighter lunch fare. jeonghan only realizes he's hungry when he sees the food. seungcheol lets him order first, lightly guiding him with a hand on his waist like he did when they left his apartment.

jeonghan thinks he does a pretty good job pretending the touch isn't scorching, if he's honest.

when he's about to hand over his credit card, seungcheol steps forward with his own ready and says, "it's all together," then orders something for himself.

"i owe you for the jjajangmyeon and groceries," he explains once they've stepped to the side to wait for their orders.

jeonghan turns to look at him. his eyes meet seungcheol's briefly and he looks so serious that any desire to argue for sport dies on his tongue. all he can do is give a simple "thanks" instead, and focus his energy on not melting into the floor.

something jeonghan has realized about seungcheol's soft, sparkly eyes: they're not always. maybe it's because he's used to working with people who are trained to live their lives under the scrutiny of the public, but seungcheol's eyes give meaning to that whole "window to the soul" thing. his emotions are incredibly easy to read, and there are probably a dozen of them he hasn't seen yet, probably all equally capable of making him a puddle of _feelings_.

jisoo would have a field day with him right now.

when their orders appear, seungcheol asks if outside is okay. jeonghan agrees for his sake, and they take everything to one of the small tables set up in the shade in front of the cafe.

they eat in silence for a minute and jeonghan decides everything about this is _nice_ — the food, his iced tea, the quiet side street and the mild weather and the tiredness in his legs. being in seungcheol's presence has always been nice, like the rest of the world fades away for a bit, even the first time they met and seungcheol was trying to yell at him.

seungcheol puts his sandwich down and picks up a napkin, breaking jeonghan out of that particular train of thought. the breeze ruffles his hair, which almost sends him into another spiral, but he manages to push it away.

"do you want to talk about why you looked like you wanted to scratch all your skin off when i showed up at your apartment?" jeonghan ventures, almost certain it’s a terrible idea, but stubbornly interested.

seungcheol freezes for less than a second, barely pushes his shoulders back, twitches an eyebrow. he probably doesn’t even realize he does one of the things, let alone all three, but jeonghan is fascinated anyway.

the puzzle that is choi seungcheol is endless.

"i need more than twenty-four hours in a day," he finally says.

"i think that’s a common sentiment."

"i’ve been blocked, and it’s a really bad time to be blocked."

jeonghan puts the last bite of food in his mouth, telling himself as he chews to _not_ mention that an hour-long makeout might help him unwind.

he pushes his wrapper away and pulls his drink closer, leaning back in his chair before speaking. "sometimes when a client does something exceptionally stupid, jisoo and i talk about how it could’ve happened and it helps us come up with the best way to handle it."

"you want to hear about my book?" seungcheol replies, raising his eyebrows like he’s surprised.

jeonghan raises his own right back. "i don’t know what you think i do in my spare time, but i _have_ picked one up in the last six months."

"i honestly assumed you worked non-stop, what with the array of perfect suits."

jeonghan waves a hand in the air and wrinkles his nose briefly as he says "ugh, no. my boss is pretty forgiving about where and when i work. most days i come home at lunch and maybe do some more work after dinner if i need to. always on-call for emergencies, though. you changed the subject."

"it's the second in a series. the first is releasing soon, so i'm about halfway through this one. my main characters should be together by now, but they're being stubborn. it sounds stupid."

"not really," jeonghan admits, softening more than he’d like to admit. "i think it’s cool that you can imagine entire settings and people and situations. i spin facts for a client’s benefit, but you invent new ones. it sounds hard."

"i guess. being outside and not thinking about it is nice, even though my editor would hate me for not pushing."

"we can talk about the weather instead, if you want," jeonghan suggests, "or how you're such an awful runner."

"i prefer to think i know my limits," seungcheol retorts with an absolutely blinding grin that has jeonghan’s chest tightening.

maybe it’s heartburn.

"if you say so."

seungcheol takes another sip of his coffee, then starts gathering their trash into a pile in the center of the table. jeonghan checks the time on his phone: they’ve been out for over an hour, so he’s not surprised when seungcheol stands. he _is_ surprised when he holds out the hand that isn’t holding his coffee and says, "do you mind if we leave? i think i know how to solve my plot problem."

jeonghan allows seungcheol to pull him up, dropping his hand as quickly as possible under the guise of needing both hands free — one for his tea and one for their garbage that he throws away on their way out of the cafe.

the walk back to their building is no more than five minutes, even at their leisurely pace. seungcheol seems lost in thought again, so jeonghan doesn’t bother him, just holds his cup in the hand on seungcheol’s side so he doesn’t do something stupid, like grab his fingers and never let go.

seungcheol stops with him at his door, places a hand on his waist for the third time that day, but removes it when jeonghan turns with a questioning look on his face.

"thanks," he says simply, then ducks his head and walks down the hall, leaving jeonghan with the feeling of his fingers in too many places on his body for someone who isn’t getting kissed, frankly.

**(four)**

seungcheol sips at his coffee and picks at a breakfast pastry from the second round of groceries jeonghan bought for him, glaring at his blinking cursor as if it’ll make words appear without him physically typing them.

it doesn’t, of course.

ten minutes later, there’s a knock at his door — the same knock he’s heard every day for the last god only knows how long, because days have started running together.

"come in," he says, raising his voice enough to hopefully be heard, because he doesn’t feel like standing up.

jeonghan pokes his head in, gives him a look of pity, then steps entirely inside. boo leaps from her perch on the living room window and circles his feet where he stands.

it's hard to tell which one of them looks forward to his daily visits more, at this point.

"you look dead on your feet," jeonghan observes, voice softer than usual. "or ass, i suppose."

seungcheol hums in agreement. "the last chapter is always the hardest. i just want to be done."

 _so i can deal with wanting to kiss you into oblivion instead,_ his brain helpfully supplies, and into the box it goes.

jeonghan looks at him for a moment, then seems to make some kind of decision. he walks over to the table and holds a hand out. seungcheol glances from the hand to his face. jeonghan raises an eyebrow at him.

 _fuck it_ , is basically the only thought in his head, so he grabs the hand and allows himself to be lead out the door. jeonghan snatches his keys off the counter on the way, passing them to seungcheol behind his back.

"shoes?" he asks, confused.

"we're not going outside."

true to his word, jeonghan only leads him down the hall to his own door. seungcheol’s fight or flight instinct kicks in, unsure whether he’s about to die or get dragged into bed, honestly.

jeonghan walks him to the couch, drops his hand, and points. "sit. do you like popcorn?"

"who doesn’t like popcorn?"

"stay," he replies, like he’s talking to a dog, before walking away.

seungcheol pinches himself to make sure he didn’t fall asleep at his table, face planted into his pastry, because that’s what this whole situation feels like. jeonghan’s apartment is cleaner than his, for sure, and sparsely decorated in hard lines and dark colors, but it feels comfortable anyway.

the smell of popcorn drifts into his nostrils, combining with the different smell in the apartment; it’s the same one that was on the clothes he leant seungcheol, the one that made him crave coffee. it’s only now that he realizes jeonghan’s presence on his morning caffeine trips did something pavlovian to his brain, which is not surprising but a little bit terrifying.

jeonghan comes back a minute later with a large bowl, two beers, and a coke. he puts the popcorn and a beer on the table, then holds the other two cans in front of seungcheol, face blank. he grabs the coke and jeonghan shrugs, putting the beer down on the table out of the way.

"you haven’t been out of the house in almost a week," he says, sitting far enough away that he can place the popcorn bowl between them and pulling his legs to his chest. "we’re watching ghibli," he adds when he’s situated, giving seungcheol a look that makes it clear he’s not about to accept any dumb excuses about why he can’t right now.

seungcheol knows he’s pouting, but somewhere inside he’s happy about current events. he hasn’t seen any of the ghibli movies since he was small, so he plucks a piece of popcorn out of the bowl and asks, "which one?"

**¤¤¤**

it happens after the popcorn is gone and the bowl is set aside and seungcheol has picked up the beer after all, after jeonghan has stretched his legs out to rest on the coffee table, around the time jiji meets the white cat. over time, seungcheol has relaxed — to be fair, jeonghan kind of kidnapped him a little — and melted into the space the popcorn bowl used to occupy. he sees seungcheol yawn out of the corner of his eye and some kind of demon possesses him. that’s the only explanation for why he puts a hand on his shoulder and guides him to rest his head in his lap.

"feet in the way," he mumbles, probably pouting again.

jeonghan pushes him up for a second, crosses his legs instead, and guides him back down. he pillows his head on his hand, palm open on jeonghan’s thigh.

seungcheol never looks away from the movie, not even when jeonghan starts to idly play with his hair, but he sighs contentedly here and there, and it hits jeonghan a bit like a wrecking ball that he could be happy like this. they’re not talking about whatever is going on, some unspoken agreement that it will wait for seungcheol to finish his chapters, but he’s pretty sure it’s a Thing.

he loves his friends, but he’s never felt this protective of their health and wellbeing, well aware that they’re all adults who can take care of themselves. seungcheol clearly can take care of himself, had been doing it for years just fine before he came along, but something about him pulls at jeonghan’s need to nurture anyway.

he wonders if he should get a plant.

there are maybe twenty minutes of movie left when seungcheol squeezes the thigh under his hand and says, "hey, do you want to come to my best friend's boyfriend's birthday dinner with me tomorrow? he's a good cook."

"your friend or the boyfriend?" jeonghan asks, stalling for time to process.

"the boyfriend. he insists on making his own dinner every year and inviting me over because he knows i won’t show up at his larger party. he’s like a big puppy and jihoon loves him and i love jihoon, so..." he drifts off, shrugging against jeonghan’s leg instead.

 _bad idea, bad idea, bad idea_ , his brain supplies. and it is, with everything tentatively hanging between them on the thinnest of wires, but he can’t help himself.

"yeah, okay."

"wait, what?" seungcheol asks, confused, like he forgot that he asked a question. he cranes his neck so he can look up at jeonghan.

"i said okay," he replies, a little exasperated but the corners of his mouth twitching anyway. "what time?"

"seven? you don’t have to dress up. jihoon lives in track pants and mingyu’s hoodies. the fanciest thing anyone will be wearing is jeans."

"okay. watch the rest of the movie. you’re worse than a kid."

seungcheol settles back in and goes quiet. jeonghan pays very little attention to what's happening on the screen until the credits roll, when seungcheol sits up and rubs a hand over his eyes.

"i forgot how good ghibli movies are."

"i have them all. watch them as background noise a lot."

seungcheol stares at his hands in his lap for a moment, probably gathering his thoughts. jeonghan has learned to wait.

"i should get home and work," he says, almost begrudgingly, maybe daring jeonghan to challenge him.

"probably," he replies, gathering the popcorn bowl and empty cans and bringing them to the kitchen. seungcheol follows him like a puppy, like he has something else important to say. jeonghan walks them to the door, because he’s not sure seungcheol will leave otherwise, and he might lose his mind and do something stupid inside of sixty seconds if he doesn’t.

seungcheol lays a hand on his hip, weighty but gentle, and looks jeonghan in the eyes when he says, "thanks for kidnapping me."

jeonghan smirks. "any time, cheol-ah."

fingers press lightly into his side before pulling away, seungcheol disappears through the door, and he returns to his couch, doing nothing to stop the dumb grin that takes over his face.

——————————  
**to: deeekay**  
can you come over tomorrow and help me  
i need to pick out clothes for a dinner and my closet is too big

 **from: deeekay**  
😯  
but yeah sure just say when  
i thought you were waiting until neighbor's deadline passed 👀

 **to: deeekay**  
6? it's his friend's boyfriend's birthday.  
you can drill me about it while you help me find something to wear.

 **from: deeekay**  
it's a date!  
i'll be there, i mean.  
no comment on your thing yet.

 **to: deeekay**  
right. say hi to soonyoung for me.

 **from: deeekay**  
he says hi and he misses you!  
and now he's excited and planning his birthday party.

 **to: deeekay**  
hahaha good luck with that.  
——————————

**(five)**

it’s not that jeonghan doesn’t know how to dress himself, even if he hasn’t had a reason to wear more than suits and t-shirts for years, but more that he could use the emotional support.

"he said the fanciest thing anyone will be wearing is jeans? and his friend lives in track pants and hoodies?" seokmin tries, for the second time — a veiled attempt to pry more information out of him about the night before.

"yeah, this isn’t a business dinner."

"ah, right, it’s a ‘i’m going to your friend’s boyfriend’s birthday with you because we’re friends but i want to be more than friends’ dinner. did you get rid of your— aha!" pleased, seokmin emerges from his closet with a blue and white striped dress shirt and tosses it on the bed with a pair of moderately beat up light wash jeans and a belt. he sings some ballad jeonghan doesn’t recognize as he stares at the shoe rack, eventually plucking a pair of black, lace-up boots and adding them to the pile. "wear a white t-shirt under it if you want, but for god’s sake at least tuck the front in."

"that shirt is massive on me."

" _everything_ you dress in that isn’t for work is massive on you. wear your long black coat over it."

"yes, seokmin-ssi."

jeonghan gathers the clothes and goes to his bathroom to change. when he returns to his bedroom, seokmin is holding a very expensive sweater to his chest and batting his eyelashes.

jeonghan answers his question before he asks it: "only if it's for a proper date."

seokmin visibly deflates, then reanimates a second later, pulling his phone out of his pocket. he turns on the speaker as the number he called rings — soonyoung picks up and jeonghan has to sit down for this.

"hyung has a pretty sweater he'll only let me borrow for a date," seokmin whines. jeonghan rolls his eyes.

"i'm sorry?" is the response, like soonyoung isn't sure what he's supposed to say.

"go to dinner with me."

"tonight? you said you were going to be there. i already ordered food."

jeonghan laughs quietly as he pulls his boots on.

seokmin glares at him. "friday. a nice restaurant. i'll pay," he tries.

he would've let him borrow the sweater if he'd pouted enough, but this is entertaining, too. seokmin and his roommate have been dancing around each other for months.

there’s a pause on the other end of the line, then an "oh!" as soonyoung finally catches on, followed by an "okay."

jeonghan has never understood how seokmin’s grin doesn’t split his face open.

he promises soonyoung he’ll be home soon, jeonghan says goodbye as he finishes tightening his laces, and seokmin puts his phone away looking very pleased with himself.

"get that cleaned before you give it back," jeonghan tells him, nodding his head in the direction of the sweater. "thanks for dressing me. go home and kiss your man."

"i expect details of your not-date."

"you can have them if you leave in the next sixty seconds."

**——————————**

there’s a knock on the door shortly after seokmin leaves. jeonghan had time to find the coat he was ordered to wear, at least.

jeonghan swings the door open and reaches next to it for his keys, depositing them in his jacket pocket. he turns his attention, finally, to seungcheol, and finds him smiling softly. he’s wearing all black, but nicer than his usual clothes — jeans and a v-neck sweater under his jacket that cling in ways that shouldn’t be legal — so jeonghan figures his own outfit is close enough.

"hope you're not smiling at me because i'm overdressed and your friends are going to make fun of me," he says anyway.

seungcheol’s face morphs into something serious when he says, "not at all, you look… good."

jeonghan steps into the hall, closing the door behind himself, blatantly ignoring the awkward tension and desire to — to use seokmin’s phrasing — climb seungcheol like a tree.

"where are we going, anyway?" he asks, following a step behind him down the stairs and out of the building.

"only a few blocks away. they live near the coffee shop i usually go to."

"anything i should know?" he asks as they walk. "does jihoon have one extra long arm i shouldn't stare at or anything?"

seungcheol grins, putting dimples on display. "no, his arms are normal. he's a musician. we were roommates our first year of university."

"he's the one to befriend for all embarrassing stories about you, then?"

"oh, definitely," he replies, nodding seriously.

"duly noted."

they come to an intersection that they have to wait to cross and fall silent amongst the others waiting around them. jeonghan wraps his coat a little tighter, crossing his arms in front of his chest to secure it, half because the night is cooler than he thought, half because he sees the looks passerby shoot his companion and he's itching to make a statement by pressing as close to him as possible. he doesn't, because that would be incredibly unfair, because seungcheol isn't his.

when the light changes and the cluster of people has thinned out again, seungcheol casually says, "i've mentioned you before, so he might ask you too many questions."

—like it's not a big deal, like that wouldn't send someone's heart dropping into their stomach. sure, he's vaguely mentioned seungcheol to seokmin, but he would never _admit it_.

"you've mentioned me? i'm touched," he teases.

"he was worried about me but didn't have time to come by. i told him it was okay because you were being so obnoxious."

"i’ve told you a million times, i was—"

"concerned about the smell," seungcheol interrupts. there’s no longer any annoyance about it; amusement took its place after about the fifth time it was used as an excuse. "i know," he adds as they navigate another crossing in front of the coffee shop, bringing a hand to rest on jeonghan's lower back protectively — possessively? — and guiding him around a corner to a small house on a small side street.

 _cute_ is the only word that comes to mind when he sees the house, and maybe kind of large for two people. it seems like a lot for a couple in their mid-twenties, but before he can ask any questions, the door they’re approaching opens and one of its owners leans against the doorway, looking something like a pleased barn cat that just caught a mouse.

he’s wearing jeans with holes in the knees and an oversized hoodie that nearly reaches the middle of his thighs, leading jeonghan to believe it’s probably jihoon, but the most impactful thing is his bright orange and pink hair.

jeonghan jabs seungcheol gently in the side with his elbow and asks, "a musician?"

"hmm?"

"the hair," he whispers, leaning into seungcheol’s side.

"leftover habit from idol trainee days. he changes it all the time."

"idol trainee," jeonghan repeats, amused that seungcheol didn’t think this was something he should know.

"he decided he’d rather be a writer and producer," he explains quickly before turning his attention to the man standing in the doorway, patiently waiting, looking like he caught another mouse.

"hyung," jihoon says as a greeting.

seungcheol grins, approaching jihoon with his arms wide open. jeonghan watches as the smaller man grimaces over seungcheol’s shoulder, but returns the hug anyway. when he finally lets go, he introduces jeonghan, and jihoon maybe looks at him like _he’s_ a mouse, but it’s a friendly sort of predatory gaze. he’s seen it from clients trying to size him up before, innocently attempting to determine how easily manipulated he is. it’s an acquired skill in the industry, so he’s not entirely surprised jihoon possesses it. jihoon seems mildly surprised when jeonghan refuses to look away first, though.

it’s all over in a second. he invites them inside and it’s like a whole different jihoon — the door shuts behind them and he takes off running through the house. giggles drift down the hallway a few seconds later, and the next time jeonghan sees him he’s on the back of what is frankly a giant, but presumably mingyu, judging by the apron he’s wearing.

"sorry, they’re just like this sometimes," seungcheol apologizes, loudly enough that they can hear him.

"it's my birthday, hyung," the giant pouts. "no judging us because you're alone in the world."

"yeah, hyung," jihoon helpfully adds.

jeonghan laughs. he can't help it. seungcheol looks at him like he's been betrayed.

jihoon taps mingyu's shoulder and he lets him down, drapes an arm around his shoulders, and they both head back into the main area they came from a minute ago.

jeonghan slips his hand into seungcheol's and drags him, still pouting, after his friends.

**——————————**

over the course of a couple of hours, jeonghan learns that:

  1. mingyu is a model,
  2. mingyu is a very good cook,
  3. jihoon is _lee jihoon_ , known in the industry as woozi, the writer of one of his favorite songs,
  4. jihoon is legitimately a little scary when he’s in younger brother mode and issuing veiled threats about hurting seungcheol in between thanking jeonghan for being there during this latest writing crunch,
  5. mingyu and jihoon are disgustingly in love and thinking about adopting a dog,
  6. seungcheol does not do well with soju, and
  7. putting a hand on seungcheol’s thigh to calm him down when he’s arguing with mingyu about dog breeds will work but also backfire spectacularly, because seungcheol _will_ put his own hand on top of jeonghan’s and draw patterns on it with his thumb.



it’s late by the time they leave, close to the time jeonghan might usually go to bed.

jihoon pulls him aside for the second time, says, "let me call a cab. cheollie hyung is heavy. i shouldn't have let him have soju."

jeonghan is stronger than he looks, but he appreciates it anyway, if only because he’s tired and it’s a little cold and seungcheol is _clingy_.

when they get back to their building, jeonghan drags seungcheol out of the cab while he babbles something about dragons weak against fire and giggles to himself. it would be cute if he could move his limbs properly.

jeonghan manages to get in front of him and holds his face in between his palms. seungcheol stops giggling, snapping his eyes up to jeonghan’s and staring at him with alarming lucidity. he falters for a moment, because it would be so easy to kiss him right now, but that would be a horrible idea for a multitude of reasons.

"cheol-ah," he says instead, "you need to help me out here or i’m going to leave you on the sidewalk."

seungcheol pouts, but he pulls himself together enough to make it inside the building, up the stairs, and into his apartment without incident.

jeonghan takes him to the bathroom, where he sits on the closed toilet lid and stares at the wall until he’s handed a toothbrush — toothpaste already on it, because jeonghan has dealt with more than enough drunk people to know giving him the tube would be a mistake.

seungcheol whines in response, followed by a pouty, "bed."

"brush your teeth, then bed," jeonghan tells him. "i'll be right back."

he escapes to the kitchen and takes a moment to breathe, his patience waning. boo circles his feet, meowing up at him. he refills her food bowl and scratches behind her ears before grabbing a bottle of water from the fridge and ibuprofen from the junk drawer.

jeonghan expects something like toothpaste everywhere and seungcheol passed out on the floor when he returns to the bathroom, but neither is the case. he’s standing in the doorway instead, and seems a little more present. he sticks his tongue out when he sees jeonghan, because apparently he’s a five year-old, and then raises an arm out at his side. jeonghan rolls his eyes and bites his tongue, sliding under it to support the idiot on the short walk to the bedroom.

seungcheol flops onto the bed and immediately curls up on his side. jeonghan sighs, considers trying to get him to undress, but decides he deserves to sleep in his clothes.

"the next time we go out, you'd better not get this drunk."

"sorry, jeonghannie," seungcheol mutters into his pillow.

if jeonghan wasn’t head over heels before, he thinks he pretty much is now.

he leaves the water and ibuprofen on the nightstand, brushes the hair back off seungcheol’s forehead before he can stop himself, and heads home.

he gets a text just after he gets into bed, smiling into the dark when he reads it and types out a reply he’s not sure if the sender will even see.

——————————  
**from: seungcheol**  
sleep well 💕😊

 **to: seungcheol**  
okay ❤️  
——————————

**(+1)**

seungcheol submits his finished chapters to his editor at exactly 11:58 pm, a minute before his deadline. she replies a minute later, confirming the file is received, and seungcheol shuts his laptop, leans back and breathes out an enormous sigh of relief.

it takes about ten seconds for his mind to drift to jeonghan, who has been steering clear since mingyu's birthday. he's been replying to texts, though, and sends things like "cheol-ah did you eat" three times a day, so seungcheol hopes it's because he's being considerate and not because he was insufferable when drunk.

he likes jeonghan. a lot. even boo likes jeonghan, maybe more than she likes him at this point.

his legs carry him out of his apartment and down the hall before he has time to think about what he's doing. he knocks and waits for what feels like an eternity before he hears locks turn and the door opens.

jeonghan has a blanket wrapped around his shoulders, covering his neck and dragging around his feet. his hair is messy and he looks a little clammy, like he's feverish or has been, and his eyes are widened in surprise.

"what are you— it's after midnight," he all but croaks, his voice clearly unused.

seungcheol feels a pull, like a magnet, like now that his brain isn't full of his book, the little box that was holding all his thoughts has opened, like jeonghan is the moon trying to drag all the water inside seungcheol's cells closer.

"you're sick," he observes, itching to move but stopping himself.

jeonghan closes his eyes and pushes his thumb and forefinger into his forehead, like the conversation is already giving him a headache. "yeah, have been for a couple days."

maybe he had one before this.

seungcheol frowns. "you didn't tell me."

"i can take care of myself. most important thing is sleep, which i would love to get more of."

seungcheol puts his hands on jeonghan's hips and steers him out of the doorway, stepping inside and only letting go temporarily to close the door.

"cheol-ah, please, i feel like i've been trampled by an elephant," he whines.

"i can tell," seungcheol says, biting back a smile. he carefully brushes jeonghan's hair off his forehead before he can help himself. "i submitted my chapters."

jeonghan's eyes flutter shut and he sighs before replying, "okay. do you want a gold star?"

"do you know what my first thought was after my editor sent me the confirmation?"

"that you need a less stressful career?"

"i wanted to see you."

jeonghan opens his eyes at that, if only to roll them. "i look like hell."

"you look like you're sick," seungcheol says, finally allowing himself to smirk because jeonghan is stubborn and ridiculous.

"i _am_ sick," he retorts. "i thought we covered this."

"i didn't know you were sick when i— that's not the point."

"if you'd known i was sick you wouldn't have wanted to see me?"

he's also caring, and funny, and challenging— 

"no," seungcheol replies, shaking his head.

"no?"

—and gorgeous when he's not handsome, or sometimes both at once, even sick.

seungcheol shrugs, says, "i still would've wanted to see you," without pretense or expectation.

jeonghan goes quiet. seungcheol worries he's doing this all wrong, that it's definitely not how he would write it happening, but he thinks he sees jeonghan fidgeting with his thumbs where he's holding the blanket around himself, and he's staring at seungcheol like he understands.

one corner of his mouth twitches, but seungcheol sees the acceptance in his eyes, just for a second, before he replaces it with a pitiful mask. "look, this whole standing thing is exhausting," he whines. "i'm going back to bed. you can come be a pillow or you can leave and come back at a normal time."

seungcheol feels the grin spread onto his face before he can stop it. he takes a step closer, into jeonghan’s space, and sees him swallow, wincing slightly. he raises a hand again to comb jeonghan’s hair back, holding the strands out of the way so he can press a kiss to his forehead.

"you’re hot," he says as he pulls away, frowning.

jeonghan smirks and raises an eyebrow, then shakes his head. he lets the blanket fall around one shoulder, bringing his hand down to wriggle his fingers into seungcheol’s where they rest on his waist, then tugs gently. "come on, cheol-ah," he whines.

"what if i was going to leave?" seungcheol teases.

jeonghan rolls his eyes again and turns away to head to his room, lacing their fingers together so seungcheol has to follow him, which is fair. he wasn’t leaving anyway.

——————————  
**to: jihoon, mingyu**  
dear friends,  
this message is to notify you that retribution for the public displays of affection endured by jeonghan and myself at dinner the other night will be delivered at a later date.  
sweet dreams,  
hyung

 **from: jihoon**  
fucking finally.  
but also, please. you think we’re scared of you two?

**from: mingyu**  
ㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋ  
good night, hyung  
—————————— 


	3. epilogue: (six weeks later)

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> this is an absolute garbage ending i apologize.

**(six weeks later)**

jeonghan pulls the door open and steps to the side, allowing seungcheol to exit first. he stops and grins instead, huffs a quiet laugh, throwing jeonghan off.

"what's so funny?"

"thinking about the first time i saw you," seungcheol replies, dimples still on full display as he reaches out for jeonghan's waist.

"oh my god," jeonghan groans.

"you weren't even a little afraid of me."

"you were holding your head and being a baby."

seungcheol steps closer, and jeonghan releases the door, because evidently they're not leaving yet.

maybe not at all.

"it really hurt," he complains, wiping the grin from his face and replacing it with a pout. "and then you called me an asshole."

"you _were_ an asshole," jeonghan protests, backing himself up to the wall next to the mailboxes. seungcheol follows, and they definitely shouldn’t be doing this in their building entryway.

"i was uncaffeinated."

jeonghan twists his fingers into the collar of seungcheol’s jacket and tugs him closer. "you're uncaffeinated now, babe."

seungcheol stares at him and he feels something shift. it’s not the typical lust that sits in his eyes in the mornings now that they’re together, but something new he can’t place at all, at least for a few seconds. seungcheol pulls him flush against his chest, wrapping him up in his arms, and jeonghan figures it out a millisecond before he says it, left completely hopeless to stop him.

"yeah, but i love you now."

"that’s so gross," jeonghan replies immediately, scrunching his nose, because yeah, that’s what he thought seungcheol was going to say, but it doesn’t make it any less mortifying to hear. "you’re the cheesiest person on earth."

"wow, i tell you i love you and you—"

jeonghan cuts him off with a kiss, laughing when he pulls away. he’ll say it later, when they’re alone in one of their apartments, when they’re not joking around, because jeonghan loves playing games but not with their relationship. he’s probably loved seungcheol since before they were even together. it’s the only explanation for why he put in the effort.

"hey, you can’t just—" seungcheol tries again.

jeonghan has missed his bus, and he could take a later one, but that doesn’t sound as nice as working from his boyfriend’s bed, with boo curled up on his legs, so he slithers out of seungcheol’s arms and takes off up the stairs.

seungcheol chases him, because of course he does, but seungcheol is slow, and jeonghan makes it to their floor first. he skips his own door and uses his key to unlock seungcheol's instead, opening it just as his boyfriend exits the stairwell. he slips inside and drops his bag before kicking off his shoes and removing his jacket. he's pulling his tie loose when the door opens and seungcheol plasters himself to his back.

" _why_?" he asks, panting slightly, breath warm on jeonghan's neck.

he twists to face seungcheol, tie forgotten. "because i knew this would happen?"

"you’re impossible."

jeonghan starts taking steps backwards to the kitchen area, pretending to be deep in thought about what he was just told. seungcheol moves with him because the only other choice is letting go. he backs himself up until he hits the counter and brings his hands behind him to rest on the edge, ready to lift himself onto it, but seungcheol does it first. he steps in between jeonghan’s thighs and circles his arms around his waist, smiling up at him.

jeonghan rests his elbows on his shoulders and smooths his hands over the hair at the back of his head, because he can and seungcheol likes it and he likes doing things that seungcheol likes, which is also why he tips his head down and kisses him.

jeonghan feels his shoulders rise with a deep inhale, like he’s getting ready to dive underwater. all for him, which is pretty crazy, because seungcheol is incredibly hot and probably a little out of jeonghan’s league, if he’s honest.

seungcheol has his tie in one hand and is trying to untuck his shirt with the other. it seems like as good a time as any, even though seungcheol _did_ call him impossible. he brings his hands around to the sides of seungcheol’s face, using them to hold him in place so he doesn’t chase jeonghan’s lips when he pulls away enough to speak.

"i love you, too," he says seriously, punctuating it with another kiss. seungcheol whimpers quietly, abandoning jeonghan’s shirt to wrap his legs around his waist. jeonghan smirks and breaks away, trailing his lips across seungcheol’s jaw to his ear. he wraps his arms tightly around his neck and whispers, "hitting you with the door was the best thing that ever happened to me."

jeonghan is still wrapped around him like a koala when he steps away from the counter and heads to the bedroom.

seungcheol hums thoughtfully against his collarbone, speaks low into his shoulder. "do you need to email jisoo?"

jeonghan shakes his head. "he had a dinner meeting with junhui last night. it can wait."

"good."

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> thanks for making it here, if you did, and thanks to the person who read this over and talked me through my writing freakouts after months of not doing it. junshua left hanging on purpose bc i might do some oneshots in the same universe, but anyway. thanks again. comments and/or kudos are appreciated. there's very little i like here so if you liked something, that's such a cool thing to hear. either way, everyone stay healthy.


End file.
